On a weekly basis, at the beginning of each day ... in the early morning hours as the sun breaks upon the horizon, I receive an email message inspired, and collected, from the words, and writings, of Henri Nouwen.  "A Daily Meditation".  A Spiritual Reflection.  A Signpost ...... steering me — steering us — on the Way to God.

"How do we know about God's love, God's generosity, God's kindness, God's forgiveness?  Through our parents, our friends, our teachers, our pastors, [our rabbis, our imams], our spouses, our children …. they all reveal God to us.  But as we come to know them, we realise that each of them can reveal only a little bit of God.  God's love is greater than theirs;  God's  goodness is greater than theirs;  God's beauty is greater than theirs.  At first we may be disappointed in these people in our lives.  For a while we thought that they would be able to give us all the love, goodness, and beauty we needed. But gradually we discover that they were all signposts on the way to God."
                                                                                                  - Henri J. M. Nouwen

Henri Nouwen understands, as well as almost any author or spiritual leader I've encountered .... that active, engaging, consuming presence of God in the hearts, and lives, of compassionate, caring people.  Not only -- and not necessarily (just) -- the people within one's family, one's community, or even one's religion - but rather, all those that share a thirst for the Divine, and a hunger for the Sacred.

On a bookshelf in my library lies a rather old — somewhat dismembered — underlined, and dog-eared, trade paperback written by Huston Smith (and published in 1957).  The title of this 94¢ "historical gem" is The Religions of Man.  A forvorite topic for controversy.  Religion.  Our Faith Traditions.  Our Spiritual Pathways.  Our complex, complicated, cantankerous religions. 

Why do we turn to religion?  What does religion really tell us ..... about who we are …. or about what is important to us, and why …. or, how we should deal with the problems, and struggles, that we face - daily - in life?  Some people would argue that our religions, in fact, entangle more of their energy in the roots of the world's problems than in the spiritual medicine box that we would hope helps solves many, if not all (some day), of our global, human difficulties.  Certainly, there is some truth to this critical statement.  However, we should also consider: if all of 'this energy' is going into the root, and none finding its way to the branches — where it can display beauty and reflect harmony — then the problem is absolutely not with the Gardener;  it's with the plant itself!

Our "human plants" — whether fed by religion or not — unfortunately, do not show an attractive record of success …. specifically, in the course of relationships, in neighbourly (or nation-ly) cooperation, in generosity, in compassion.  But that does not mean the plant is about to self-destruct.  Optimists ( .. and I am one of them) will argue that there are signs of progress.  And, not suprisingly, one of the clearer signs of progress …. is dialogue, and understanding.